Amplifier Recommendations

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   Hi All,
Probably my first time posting on the 12V section!

I'm not actually looking to do a 12V rig as such, I'm actually looking for a little amp for my kitchen!  I have 12V power supplies already for running under-cupboard lighting and the size of the little 12V class-D amps look pretty ideal for just screwing under a cupboard etc.  It's only to run a couple of JBL Control 1's or similar at background music/TV watching level so don't need much.  I had allocated a 1U Samson Servo for the job but even that is somewhat overkill!

A quick search on Ebay etc throws up hundreds of TA2020 based amp modules.  I was just wondering if anyone could recommend any particular sellers or specific versions which are known to be better than others please.

Cheers

Chris

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ceharden Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List The 10,000 Points Club Joined: 05 June 2005 Location: Southampton Status: Offline Points: 11776	Post Options Post Reply Quote ceharden Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Amplifier Recommendations Posted: 03 August 2014 at 10:43pm
	Hi All, Probably my first time posting on the 12V section! I'm not actually looking to do a 12V rig as such, I'm actually looking for a little amp for my kitchen! I have 12V power supplies already for running under-cupboard lighting and the size of the little 12V class-D amps look pretty ideal for just screwing under a cupboard etc. It's only to run a couple of JBL Control 1's or similar at background music/TV watching level so don't need much. I had allocated a 1U Samson Servo for the job but even that is somewhat overkill! A quick search on Ebay etc throws up hundreds of TA2020 based amp modules. I was just wondering if anyone could recommend any particular sellers or specific versions which are known to be better than others please. Cheers Chris

KWB75 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Registered User Joined: 10 November 2007 Status: Offline Points: 259	Post Options Post Reply Quote KWB75 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 03 August 2014 at 11:02pm
	The MaxAmp20 from Accusafe is a really nice amp, tiny little thing too.

ceharden Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List The 10,000 Points Club Joined: 05 June 2005 Location: Southampton Status: Offline Points: 11776	Post Options Post Reply Quote ceharden Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 03 August 2014 at 11:24pm
	Cool, thanks for that, looks quite interesting. Bit different in that it's not a Tripath and also made in the EU.

bitSmasher Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Old Croc Joined: 23 June 2012 Location: Melbourne Status: Offline Points: 2295	Post Options Post Reply Quote bitSmasher Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 03 August 2014 at 11:47pm
	HiFiMeDIY, Sure and Lepai are brands I always look out for

slaz Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Old Croc Joined: 27 November 2009 Location: London E2 Status: Offline Points: 2713	Post Options Post Reply Quote slaz Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 August 2014 at 9:21am
	Depends on if you want cased or uncased. For cased ones - well the Lepai ones are very convenient wrt connectors (5.5mm/2.1mm DC barrel for power. both RCA and 3.5mm mini-jack for signal, and spring terminals for speakers.) They also have bass and treble controls, and higher input sensitivity (enough to easily get driven to clip from mp3 player, ipod, phone etc.) Some folk will say other brands sound better, but I've found them to be quite OK. Uncased .... well IME the Sure ones use better quality PCB's, and seem to be a bit better engineered than most ...... although having said that - my mate bought one of the super-cheap ones for a project, and that worked perfectly well too. Bear in mind that with 12V supply and 8R loads, you'll only be getting 7-8W per channel at clip. I'd make sure your 12V DC is nice and clean .... decent switch-mode supplies are OK ..... use at least 3A rated ones (but 2A might be enough for 8R loads). As above, the Maxamp and hifimediy ones are also rated (but never used em myself). Apparently the input sensitivity on many of these boards can be tweaked by swapping out resisitors (I think in the feedback loop).
	REMEMBER....POLITICIANS AND DIAPERS SHOULD BE CHANGED OFTEN AND FOR THE SAME REASON

ceharden Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List The 10,000 Points Club Joined: 05 June 2005 Location: Southampton Status: Offline Points: 11776	Post Options Post Reply Quote ceharden Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 August 2014 at 5:18pm
	Excellent, thanks for the info guys. I've decided to order one of the MaxAmp20's and give one of those a go first. The remote volume control feature makes it ideal to mount out of the way.

Saturnus Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Old Croc Joined: 13 July 2010 Location: Copenhagen Status: Offline Points: 2025	Post Options Post Reply Quote Saturnus Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 August 2014 at 5:57pm
	The maxamp20 is highly recommendable. Quite a lot better build quality than the chinese tripath amps, and the chip used also offers even better sound quality and efficiency than the outdated tripath ones. The service and know-how of the manufacturer is also far better as they deal exclusively in manufacturing and supplying part for portable stereo DIYers. Edited by Saturnus - 04 August 2014 at 6:01pm